The tale of Tom Kitten

OF

m: M KITTEN

TRIX POTTER

F.WARNE&C°LT.°|

THE TALE

OF
TOM KITTEN

m /-

mm

THE TALE OF

TOM KITTEN

BEATRIX POTTER

LONDON

FREDERICK WARNE & CO., LTD.
AND NEW YORK

[All rights reserved]

Co,

Copyright in all countries

signatory to the Berne Convention

Frederick Warm & Co. Lid.

London, England

05317

Printed for the Publisher*
by Jarrold & Sons Ltd., Norwich

DEDICATED

TO ALL
PICKLES,

— ESPECIALLY TO THOSE THAT
GET UPON MY GARDEN WALL

/^\NCE upon a time there
were three little kittens,
and their names were Mittens,
Tom Kitten, and Moppet.

They had dear little fur
coats of their own; and they
tumbled about the doorstep
and played in the dust.

"DUT one day their mother —
Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit-
expected friends to tea; so she
fetched the kittens indoors, to
wash and dress them, before
the fine company arrived.

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THIRST she scrubbed their
faces, (this one is Moppet).

T^HEN she brushed their fur,
(this one is Mittens).

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HP HEN she combed their
tails and whiskers, (this
is Tom Kitten).

Tom was very naughty, and
he scratched.

TABITHA dressed
Moppet and Mittens in
clean pinafores and tuckers;
and then she took all sorts of
elegant uncomfortable clothes
out of a chest of drawers, in
order to dress up her son
Thomas.

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KITTEN was very
fat, and he had grown;
several buttons burst off. His
mother sewed them on again.

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XAfHEN the three kittens
were ready, Mrs. Tabitha
unwisely turned them out into
the garden, to be out of the
way while she made hot
buttered toast.

"Now keep your frocks
clean, children ! You must
walk on your hind legs. Keep
away from the dirty ash-pit,
and from Sally Henny Penny,
and from the pig-stye and the
Puddle-Ducks."

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A

s* m

TV/TOPPET and Mittens
walked down the garden
path unsteadily. Presently
they trod upon their pinafores
and fell on their noses.

When they stood up there
were several green smears !

"T ET us climb up the
rockery, and sit on the
garden wall," said Moppet.

They turned their pinafores
back to front, and went up
with a skip and a jump;
Moppet's white tucker fell
down into the road.

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j HI&K

KITTEN was quite
unable to jump when
walking upon his hind legs
in trousers. He came up the
rockery by degrees, breaking
the ferns, and shedding buttons
right and left.

T-TE was all in pieces when
he reached the top of
the wall.

Moppet and Mittens tried
to pull him together; his hat
fell off, and the rest of his
buttons burst.

32

VyHILE they were in diffi-
culties, there was a pit
pat paddle pat ! and the three
Puddle-Ducks came along the
hard high road, marching one
behind the other and doing
the goose step — pit pat paddle
pat ! pit pat waddle pat !

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'T'HEY stopped and stood
in a row, and stared up
at the kittens. They had very
small eyes and looked sur-
prised.

35

'T'HEN the two duck-birds,
Rebeccah and Jemima
Puddle-Duck, picked up the
hat and tucker and put them
on.

3?

A/TITTENS laughed so that
1V± she fell off the wall.
Moppet and Tom descended
after her; the pinafores and
all the rest of Tom's clothes
came off on the way down.
"Come! Mr. Drake Puddle
Duck," said Moppet — "Gome
and help us to dress him !
Come and button up Tom!"

39

A/TR. DRAKE PUDDLE-
1V± DUCK advanced in a
slow sideways manner, and
picked up the various articles.

"DUT he put them on him-
self! They fitted him
even worse than Tom Kitten.
"It's a very fine morning!"
said Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck.

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ND he and Jemima and
Rebeccah Puddle-Duck
set off up the road, keeping
step— pit pat, paddle pat! pit
pat, waddle pat !

45

Tabitha Twitchit
came down the garden
and found her kittens on the
wall with no clothes on.

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CHE pulled them off the

wall, smacked them, and

took them back to the house.

"My friends will arrive in

a minute, and you are not fit

to be seen; I am affronted,"

said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.

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CHE sent them upstairs;
and I am sorry to say she
told her friends that they were
in bed with the measles;
which was not true.

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the contrary; they
were not in bed : not in
the least.

Somehow there were very
extraordinary noises over-head,
which disturbed the dignity and
repose of the tea party.

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A ND I think that some day

I shall have to make

another, larger, book, to tell

you more about Tom Kitten !

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AS for the Puddle-Ducks-
they went into a pond.
The clothes all came off
directly, because there were
no buttons.

A ND Mr. Drake Puddle-
Duck, and Jemima and
Rebeccah, have been looking
for them ever since.

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Potter, B.

The tale of Tom kitten.

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO